Outlander Series Begins Production, Ronald D. Moore Wields A Sword In First Set Photo

Along with the news that the TV adaptation of Diana Gabaldon's international bestselling Outlander series has begun production comes this photo from the set. The down side is, it doesn't feature any of the stars, so we'll just have to wait to see how Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan look together as Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser for Starz and Sony's TV series. But the good news is, the photo from the set does give us a look at executive producer Ronald D. Moore, along with a mighty sword and a glimpse of what appear to be shields in the background.

Moore's probably best known for developing the reboot of Battlestar Galactica to great success for Syfy. These days, he's got two highly anticipated series on his plate, as he's executive producing Helix for Syfy, and Outlander for Starz, the latter of which has started filming on location in Scotland, and is set to air on Starz in 2014.

Based on Gabaldon's book, Outlander stars Caitriona Balfe as Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945 who's on vacation with her husband when she finds herself whisked back to 1743, in war torn Scotland. She's then forced to marry a chivalrous and romantic Scottish warrior named Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), who she eventually falls for, despite having a husband she loves back in the future. The story is said to be a mixture of genres, from romance to historical and of course, science fiction when we factor in the time travel. Both past and "present" in this novel put the story into the period genre for TV. And considering that's worked out well for Starz in the past, I'm thinking -- or hoping -- that Outlander will be a good fit for the premium cable network, which also gave us Spartacus, Da Vinci's Demons and Magic City. Ron Moore's involvement certainly doesn't hurt. Battlestar Galactica's emphasis on human drama, which included romance, family struggles and a fight for survival, are surely what made the series such a success, reaching beyond the sci-fi fan base to an even broader audience. With that in mind, Moore has set the bar high for himself, but I'm truly hopeful that Outlander will be another must-watch series.

Moore sounds determined to deliver a good adaptation with this series, stating, "Day One and the battle is joined. We fight to do justice to the material and the fans. We'll return with our targes or on them.”

Yeah, I had to look up the word "targe," which my spellcheck keeps trying to change to target. Merriam-Webster says a targe is a light shield used especially by the Scots. Is that what we're looking at behind Moore's head? Looks like they come with matching bags. (Check out a bigger version of the above photo by clicking the thumbnail below).

With production started, we can hope that Starz and/or Sony will be generous with the promotional content going forward, and that it won't be long before we get our first glimpse of Jamie and Claire in costume.